New publications contribute breadth and depth to Anabaptist and Pietist studies

Transcription

1 The Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College Fall 2010 New publications contribute breadth and depth to Anabaptist and Pietist studies After Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy received both critical and popular acclaim, the publisher, Jossey-Bass, offered authors Donald Kraybill, Steve Nolt, and David Weaver-Zercher a contract for a sequel. As they considered the many non-fiction books about the Amish, the authors realized that none focused on Amish faith and spirituality. So we decided to write a book that did, says Kraybill. Rather than concentrating on history, cultural description, and social analysis, we focused on the religious foundations that in Amish society give rise to their distinctive cultural practices. What followed that decision was an intense spate of researching, writing, rewriting, and editing, which culminated in late June when the authors Steve Nolt, Don Kraybill, and David Weaver-Zercher discuss The Amish Way page proof. returned the page proof, their final step in the book creation process. The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World is being printed now and is due on shelves in late September. Kraybill wrapped up another book project this summer, only this one had a much longer trajectory. Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites, which will be published this fall, was a book he envisioned 10 years ago when doing research for Anabaptist World USA. The goal of Concise Encyclopedia, says Kraybill, is to bring together, in one volume, key information on the beliefs and practices of the four major North American Anabaptist families. The book is not exhaustive or definitive but designed as a portal for journalists, scholars, students, and Anabaptist group members to have easy access to key information on a wide range of topics as well as numerous leads to additional sources. It is the first volume to list all the groups in the 17 countries of North America in which they are found, a major contribution of the project. Young Center-related scholarship in other areas of the Anabaptist and Pietist Studies field has also been progressing this year. By the end of 2010, four new books in the Young Center series published by Johns Hopkins University Press will have been released (including Concise Encyclopedia). An Amish Paradox: Diversity and Change in the World s Largest Amish Community came out in March. The culmination of seven years of fieldwork, the book is the first social scientific study of the Holmes County (Ohio) Amish settlement in more than 50 years. Authors Charles Hurst and David McConnell of the College of Wooster note that the uniqueness of their book is its in-depth and (continued on page 2) 1

2 Books! Books! Much of what we are doing at the Young Center these days relates to books, old and new. In June we hosted a major study conference on the Martyrs Mirror, the great Dutch collection of Anabaptist martyr stories published 350 years ago. Following the conference, a small-scale research seminar focused intensively on details of the first German translation of the book, made at Ephrata in Lancaster County in In recent months, the Young Center staff has been intensely busy writing, editing, and preparing new books for publication. Donald Kraybill completed his Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, FROM THE DIRECTOR Jeff Bach Brethren, Hutterites and Mennonites, as well as a collaborative book with Steve Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher on Amish spirituality, The Amish Way. A collaborative book for which I worked with Michael Birkel at Earlham College came out in May, Genius of the Transcendent. It offers newly translated selections from Jacob Boehme s writings. The Young Center Books in Anabaptist and Pietist Studies series with Johns Hopkins University Press is adding other new titles. All of these books have engaged our staff, especially our editorial associate, Cynthia Nolt, and our student workers. Whether studying old books or writing new ones, the Young Center continues to pursue its goal of scholarly research. Through publication, we engage other scholars and inform a broader, general public about the fruits of this work. These recent books expand the knowledge about Anabaptist and Pietist groups in new ways. So take a few moments to learn more about the Young Center s recent books. We have something for a variety of tastes. I hope you ll join us this semester for our evening presentations to hear and discuss some of the fruits of this scholarship. Happy reading! New publications (continued) wide-ranging analysis of the Holmes County settlement, its focus on both internal and external pressures, and its presentation of a model for understanding change and diversity within the settlement. DIRECTOR Jeff Bach, Ph.D. SENIOR FELLOW Donald B. Kraybill, Ph.D. RESEARCH STAFF Stephen Scott Cynthia Nolt ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Hillary Daecher Fall 2010 Young Center News is published twice each year for those interested in the work and events of the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Please direct correspondence to the address below. Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies Elizabethtown College One Alpha Drive Elizabethtown, PA Phone: (717) ; Fax: (717) youngctr@etown.edu Web site: Released in late spring, Hutterites in North America, by Rod Janzen and Max Stanton, is the first updated scholarly study of contemporary Hutterite life in North America since the publication of John A. Hostetler s Hutterite Society in 1974, according to series editor Kraybill. The authors have spent the past 25 years visiting colonies in all four Hutterite branches while also researching original and secondary source materials. The book describes and analyzes contemporary Hutterite life by placing social developments in historical perspective. Daily Demonstrators: The Civil Rights Movement in Mennonite Homes and Sanctuaries, due for release in late September, chronicles Mennonite race relations during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. It s a first-time look at how Mennonites in North America quietly participated in the civil rights movement in their churches and homes through integrative practices such as Vacation Bible School, Sunday school, and Fresh Air programs, says Kraybill. Author Tobin Miller Shearer notes that his research shows that homes and sanctuaries were sites of civil rights movement action not just staging grounds for civil rights movement action. For the first time, he adds, Mennonite religious history is brought into conversation with civil rights movement history while also showing how children challenged white adults racial stereotypes. These five new books join those already published and those in manuscript stage in bringing engagingly written, research-based scholarship to both academic and general audiences. They make an essential contribution to advancing the Young Center s mission of interpreting the life, culture, and beliefs of Anabaptist and Pietists. 2

3 Photo by Dale Gehman. Benyamin Neuberger named Fall 2010 Snowden Fellow Benyamin Neuberger has been named the Snowden Fellow for Although he will be delayed in beginning his residency at the Young Center due to an accident, he anticipates coming to fulfill his fellowship at a later time. Neuberger is currently a professor of political science and African studies at the Open University of Israel. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University and has taught at Tel Aviv University, the University of Pennsylvania, Haverford College, the University of Cape Town, and the University of Swaziland. In he was a Senior Associate Member at St Anthony s College, Oxford University. Neuberger has published widely on Seventy-two people gathered at the Young Center between June 8 and 10 for Martyrs Mirror: Reflections Across Time, a conference commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Dutch Anabaptist martyrology Martyrs Mirror. Participants came from Canada, California, North Dakota, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, as well as other states for this unique conference. nationalism and ethnicity. He became seriously interested in the Amish during a two-year sabbatical at Oxford University, where he was working on a wider research project on church and state in liberal democracies. During my research I repeatedly encountered the writings of Professor Donald Kraybill, which is how I contacted him, and through him, the Young Center, Neuberger says. The main topic of his research is The Amish, the Rule of Law and Freedom of Religion: The Culture of Compromise in American Democracy. Eventually, he plans to expand it to a comparative study, comparing the Amish with the Israeli ultra-orthodox, and their respective relation to the state. I am very thankful to be Pre-conference tours offered two options one group visited an exhibit of Martyrs Mirrors and fraktur bookplates at the Museum for the Historical Society of the Cocalico Valley and toured the Ephrata Cloister, and the other group visited three Lancaster County libraries to see significant copies of the Martyrs Mirror and some bookplates. At the conference, a variety of speakers delivered plenary talks and presented papers in the Bucher Meetinghouse. On Wednesday evening, the Foresingers, an ensemble directed by Glenn Lehman, presented choral music related to hymn texts by or about Anabaptist martyrs. given the opportunity to continue my research at the Young Center, which is undoubtedly the ideal place to study this topic, through personal contacts with members of the Amish June conference and seminar advance research Steve Ness, Clarke Hess, Joe Springer, and Kerry Mohn examine variations in copies of the 1748 Ephrata Martyrer Spiegel. Benyamin Neuberger community, with colleagues at the Center, and through the use of the college s library, Neuberger says. The Young Center invites nominations and applications for Center fellows and doctoral fellows. Visit the Center s web site, for details. During plenary presentations, James Lowry spoke on the life of Thieleman van Braght, the author of Martyrs Mirror. Sarah Covington gave an illustrated lecture on Jan Luyken, the engraver of the illustrations added to the second edition in Julia Spicher Kasdorf explored how the book inspired American Mennonites to remain pacifists. Patrick Erben examined issues of translation from Dutch to German. Other speakers addressed topics such as women and their words in Martyrs Mirror, the role of suffering, spirituality, and how later Mennonites in America understood the book. Several speakers described the technical aspects of the 1748 edition created at Ephrata, including translation, design, and production. A panel consisting of Gerald Mast, Sarah Covington, and James Lowry wrapped up the event with their observations about the gains in research and remaining questions. Those attending included a diversity of Mennonites from plain to the cultural mainstream, as well as people outside Anabaptist circles. The mix of participants made for engaging presentations and lively discussion. On June 11 and 12, the Young Center hosted a research seminar focused solely on the 1748 Ephrata Martyrer Spiegel, the first complete German translation of Martyrs Mirror and the largest book produced (continued on page 4) 3

4 Consultation on postcolonialism and Anabaptism The Young Center and Mennonite Central Committee will host a small gathering of representatives and denominational leaders from various Anabaptistrelated churches on September 24 and 25. The consultation, Postcolonialism and Anabaptism, will examine and assess the way Anabaptist groups understand postcolonialism and its implications for Anabaptism. Participants will explore how postcolonial perspectives impact the lives, communities, and institutions of Anabaptists. They will also discuss the legacy of colonialism s impact on Anabaptist churches, understandings of Scripture, and how Anabaptist groups relate to communities around the world. Planners hope that the consultation will lead to further events on the topic. June conference (continued) in the American colonies. Twenty-four scholars and collectors brought a total of 51 copies of the Ephrata book together for examination, the first time such a study had been undertaken. In addition to reviewing the variants and printing errors that have been reported in existing literature, seminar participants found some new ones. Several copies with unusual features on their title pages appeared, including a very rare copy with an engraved second title page, a feature known in only one other copy of the Ephrata edition. Bookseller Ron Lieberman led an examination of binding features, and the group also noted various inscriptions in the copies at hand. Participants advanced the current state of research about the Ephrata Martyrs Mirror and formed new collegial friendships. Research continues on other copies in the libraries and collections represented at the conference. The Young Center plans to expand the research to other copies and to publicize the research findings. Center hosts international visitors The Young Center hosted a number of international visitors this spring and summer. They represent several countries, and came for various purposes. On April 1, a group of community leaders from Afghanistan visited the Center, and on April 26, a group of community leaders and religion teachers from Pakistan paid a similar visit. Both groups came to the Center under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State s International Visitor Leadership Program, through support from the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia. Both groups toured Lancaster County, learning about the plain people of Anabaptist background, and ended their visits with a stop the Young Center, where they discussed religious diversity with Jeff Bach and Steve Scott. Over tea and coffee, the visitors shared their observations and asked questions about traditional patterns of behavior among the plain people and religious tolerance. The Center s Spring 2009 doctoral fellow, Andy Borella, returned from Milan, Italy, for several weeks this summer. He was in the U.S. to speak at a conference on Anabaptism at Bethel College in Kansas and to attend the American Sociological Association meeting in Georgia. While in the area, Andy spent time with Amish families and used the research materials at the Young Center to complete the fieldwork for his dissertation on Amish rituals of passage. Ghislaine da Costa, a doctoral student from Lyon, France, visited the Young Center during several weeks in August. She is doing research and gathering information on changing patterns of gender differences in Old Order Mennonite and Amish communities in the U.S. since the 1960s. She consulted with Don Kraybill and conducted interviews during her time in Lancaster County. Nao Namura, a Ph.D. student at the University of Tokyo, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for doctoral dissertation research. During her Fulbright tenure, she will be affiliated with Temple University and plans to spend time at the Young Center on various occasions during the coming year. Namura s focus is the change in the aesthetics and function of quilts within the Amish community. She will utilize the Young Center s collection of Amish materials for part of her research, as well as consult with staff here. est We Forget : Anna Blough, LMissionary in China, a new exhibit interpreting the significance of the life and work of Anna V. Blough, will open at the Young Center on October 1 and run through January 30, The exhibit will feature texts from Blough s letters, autobiography, and miscellaneous writings, as well as photographs. Blough was one of several single women in the Church of the Brethren who served as missionaries in China. She was a teacher and worked with Chinese women from 1913 until her death from typhus in Using Blough s own words, the display will interpret her missionary work during a time when Brethren limited the roles of women in leadership in the United States. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, is available weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. 4

5 UPCOMING EVENTS Heirs of Jacob Boehme JEFF BACH Thursday, September 16 7:30 p.m. Bach will present some of the life and thought of the German mystic Jacob Boehme ( ), and give an overview of the Boehme s influence on several Radical Pietist religious groups who settled in Pennsylvania. The lecture will also explore some ways that Boehme s influence shaped religious groups such as the Kelpius community, the Ephrata Cloister, the Harmonists, and the Blooming Grove community. Jeff Bach has served as director of the Young Center since August He is also an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Elizabethtown College. Bach wrote a history of the Ephrata Cloister, Voices of the Turtledoves: The Sacred World of Ephrata, and recently collaborated with Michael Birkel to produce an anthology of new translations of Boehme texts, Genius of the Transcendent: Mystical Writings of Jakob Boehme. Lectures Thursday, September 16, 7:30 p.m. Heirs of Jacob Boehme Jeff Bach Tuesday, October 19, 7:30 p.m. German Pietists in a British Atlantic World Katherine Carté Engel Tuesday, November 16, 7:30 p.m. The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World Donald B. Kraybill Tuesday, December 7, 7:00 p.m. This Tractor for Hire: Enlisting Pacifist Farmers and Black Farmers during World War II Steven D. Reschly versity. She is the author of Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America and has published articles in Early American Studies, : Ideas, Aesthetics and Inquiries, and several edited volumes. Engel is currently studying the international Protestant community during the age of the American Revolution. Religion and Profit received the 2010 Dale W. Brown Book Award. Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing following the lecture. The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World DONALD B. KRAYBILL Tuesday, November 16 7:30 p.m. Kraybill will provide an overview of Amish religious beliefs and practices based on his most recent book, The Amish Way: Patient Faith in a Perilous World. The lecture will also explore how Amish faith is intertwined with community and commitment, child rearing, home life, material possessions, the natural world, evil, and sorrow. These issues pose the question, Is there anything the Amish can teach the rest of us about living meaningfully in the modern world? Father David Danneker will respond to the presentation, and a time of discussion will follow. Copies German Pietists in a British Atlantic World KATHERINE CARTÉ ENGEL Tuesday, October 19 7:30 p.m. In the early modern era, Great Britain opened its colonies to Protestant refugees and settlers. Thousands of Continental Germans, including many German Pietists, settled in North America, helping to make British America more diverse than nearly any other place in the world. When the American Revolution tore the British empire apart, these communities faced complex choices about their own religious worlds. Their decisions were key to the new American religious environment. Katherine Carté Engel is an assistant professor of history at Texas A&M Uniof The Amish Way will be available for sale and signing. Donald B. Kraybill is senior fellow at the Young Center and the author of numerous books on Anabaptists groups in North America including the recently published Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites. Father Danneker is adjunct professor of applied ethics at Elizabethtown College and pastor of St. Peter s Catholic Church in Elizabethtown. This Tractor for Hire: Enlisting Pacifist Farmers and Black Farmers during World War II STEVEN D. RESCHLY Tuesday, December 7 7:00 p.m. All combatant nations during World War II used mass media, particularly film, to motivate their populations to support the war. In the U.S, wartime food production was a focus of government agencies and, thus, the film industry. Planners enlisted farmers in the effort, even farmers from conscientious objector religious groups. Reschly's lecture will focus on The Farmer at War, a nine-minute film produced by Columbia Pictures and the U.S. Office of War Information and distributed in Lancaster Countian Moses Zimmerman, a plain farmer whose wife wears a head covering, is the film s main focus, and the central line is And thus Zimmerman cooperates. Even the historic peace churches were part of the warring nation, along with black farmers, women, doctors, and college students. Steven Reschly is a professor of history at Truman State University. His current research examines rural consumer culture in Amish and related groups in 1930s Lancaster County, Pa. Reschly is the author of The Amish on the Iowa Prairie, and co-editor of Strangers at Home: Amish and Mennonite Women in History. 5

6 YOUNG CENTER FOR ANABAPTIST AND PIETIST STUDIES ONE ALPHA DRIVE ELIZABETHTOWN, PA RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Katherine Carté Engel receives 2010 Brown Book Award Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America by Katherine Carté Engel has won the 2010 Dale W. Brown Book Award. Published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2009, the book traces the history of the Moravian community in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from the founding of the town in 1741 to the early nineteenth century. It has been hailed by reviewers as a noteworthy example of Atlantic history at its best (Mark Noll in The Catholic Historical Review) and a wide-ranging and fascinating book...[that] makes valuable contributions to the understanding of the Moravian Brethren and the dynamics of eighteenth-century North America (Elisabeth Sommer in The Journal of American History). Engel teaches history at Texas A&M University, where she specializes in the religious history of early America, particularly in the mid-atlantic region. She received her Ph.D. in American history from the University of Wisconsin in 2003, and has been a member of the Texas A&M faculty since Engel has published a number of articles and book reviews in scholarly journals and is currently working on a book project titled Breaking Ties: The Redefinition of Protestant Community During the American Revolution. The book award judges selected Religion and Profit from a pool of 28 books nominated for the award this year. One judge notes that Engel s book is engaging and well-written at the same time that it is well-researched and makes excellent use of primary sources, and that it links the focus group (Moravians in Bethlehem, Pa., in the eighteenth century) with broader scholarship, challenging major historical/sociological assumptions about the relationship between religious belief and economics. Another says that the argument Engel makes is sophisticated, detailed and original.she draws on an impressive range of primary and secondary sources and organizes the argument in a compelling way, in clear prose. In terms of the quality and originality of scholarship, this volume clearly stands [out]. Katherine Carté Engel Engel will present a lecture, German Pietists in a British Atlantic World, at the Young Center on October 19. The national award, which recognizes an outstanding book in Anabaptist and Pietist studies published during the previous three years, was named for Dale W. Brown, a noted author and theologian among the historic peace churches. Nominations for the 2011 award will be accepted until December 10, Visit for details. 6